Are usernames becoming recycled? I noticed a new user that I could have sworn had a taken username- it's a username I use often and almost always check for first when signing up places. Or am I imagining all of this? posted by mkultra to Etiquette/Policy at 8:53 AM (38 comments total)

You're imagining it. Though during my search I found this early pre-9/11 gem. A link to a Metafilter thread on the front page. Ahh the early days.posted by geoff. at 8:57 AM on September 9, 2005

Eric Costello used to work at Schwa, as did many others. There were/are a bunch of others who were at Schwa on MeFi too.posted by riffola at 8:59 AM on September 9, 2005

I explained it before. I removed the user login completely from the database, something I rarely do. This means there's no record of it ever existing, so when someone went to sign up the name, it wasn't taken, because there was no record of it.

The person that signed it up didn't use a lame password that is easily guessable, so there's no security problem in having it around.posted by mathowie(staff) at 11:05 AM on September 9, 2005

What was the origional problem with the username 'login'?posted by delmoi at 11:28 AM on September 9, 2005

Why not auction off unused/old usernames? I've seen a lot of old ones out there that are virtually unused. I even have an old one that I don't remember. Granted, not a lot of people wouldn't clamor for BigSexE1 (except me...maybe..) or some obscure username but you could take the proceeds and donate to the Red Cross or something? Just a thought.posted by KevinSkomsvold at 11:32 AM on September 9, 2005

delmoi, I think login's password was also 'login' (and he/she posted that info in a thread somewhere), and so everyone was logging in as 'login' and posting random garbage.posted by iconomy at 11:34 AM on September 9, 2005

iconomy is right, people went crazy with the old login name; I seem to recall the goatse picture posted under that name.

delmoi, there was kindof a frenzy of login/login posts, with multiple non-members commenting and posting and while some people used it as a way to finally get their say on the blue, others used it to post noise and do shoutouts, kindof "look ma! I'm on Mefi!"posted by nile_red at 12:47 PM on September 9, 2005

This came up recently in MeTa but I can't find it -- the "login" account was deleted after all of the fun we had with it, so someone came along and created it fresh. Dunno if that's what happened with schwa or not.posted by mendel at 9:26 AM on September 10, 2005

Is it possible to change my username? I just realized I'd joined MeFi years ago, forgot it completely, but discovered it again. I don't have any posting history to speak of.posted by Joseph Gurl at 8:21 PM on September 11, 2005

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